Rich Franklin (left) vs. Chuck Liddell (Photo courtesy of Josh Hedges/Zuffa)

UFC light-heavyweight contender Rich Franklin has no wrestling or boxing background, but he does have a master’s degree in education from the University of Cincinnati.

He quit his career as a high school math teacher to train full-time, and now works with at-risk students a couple nights per week helping them with math.

He’s also 14-0 with all his wins inside the distance. He delivered big time at his UFC 42 debut against Evan Tanner, scoring a crushing first-round knockout against the veteran. The swift victory raised both eyebrows and expectations.

He followed up with a knockout of Edwin DeWees at UFC 44, despite a pulled groin that hampered his movement and agility. Now, in a division stocked with marquee names like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Vanderlei Silva, Quinton Jackson and Vitor Belfort, Franklin is in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose his path to a title shot. He won’t be rushed, but he doesn’t feel he’ll have to wait too long to be ready, either.

“Whatever they’re good at, we stay away from,” Franklin says.

“Watch my fight with Tanner. I didn’t clinch one time, but in my fight with DeWees you’ll see I fight really well out of the clinch. I’m not one of those fighters that thinks I have to tap someone out, because I can knock them out.”

Most fighters give up a job when the purses get big enough, but Franklin didn’t. He now finds himself in the midst of a three-a-day training regimen with Jorge Gurgel, along with Kerry Schall and Josh Raferty. Since 2002 he’s been teaching one or two nights a week helping kids enrolled in the Highlander Project, where director Sherm Perkins knew he could be an asset after Franklin was a math teacher at Oak Hill.

“Sherm said he needed somebody, and that I had a reputation for being able to work the kids,” Franklin says. “I don’t have to do the grading and lesson plans, I have no faculty meetings to attend or anything like that. It works out great. I do a couple nights a week and they give me time off when I’m training for an upcoming fight.”

The arrangement started in the fall of 2002, and it’s perfect for Franklin. He lifts in the mornings for an hour and a half, then rolls with Gurgel and company from 11:30 to 1:30. Then in the evening they drill everything from positioning to plyometrics from 7 to 9 p.m.

He may be the only fighter in the game who gets more training time in because he doesn’t have to grade papers.

Reality Sets In

Franklin graduated from high school as a 155-pound receiver knowing college football wasn’t an option. He found himself in mixed martial arts mostly on a lark because he wanted to compete in something. He was winning early bouts so easily he says his confidence was soaring—until he witnessed the reality of losing hard.

“For the first 10 or 12 fights of my career, I basically trained on my own and had no affiliations with anybody,” Franklin says. “I never had boxing or muay Thai matches. A lot of people asked me if I’d fought before, and I hadn’t. My first couple fights, I really thought I was the baddest man on the face of the earth. It was a false sense of security that I had given to myself. I believed it wouldn’t happen to me.”

Facing Gary Myers, he saw the grim downside of losing in MMA up close and personal. “I kicked this guy in the jaw and broke it in three spots, and I realized I could really get hurt doing this. That’s where the nervousness came into play,” he says.

Realizing that such an injury could happen to him put Franklin’s goal in perspective—but being the competitive athlete he is, it also renewed his efforts. He ultimately stuck to the adage that the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.

In 2001 he began making trips to train with Team Miletich.

His game blossomed as he experienced the osmosis of rolling with top-notch guys. “I used to go up two to three times a year,” he says. “In the process, I developed a strong friendship with Jeremy Horn. He does a good job of explaining when there’s something I’m not understanding.”

According to Franklin, the experience was like going from starvation straight to an all-you-can-eat buffet. “I was teaching full time for four years, and that’s a 60-to-65-hour a week job,” Franklin recalls. “When I was in college I spent that time training, and while teaching I basically developed my fight career.” In 2002 he came across Jorge Gurgel after hearing about him from fellow fighter Josh Raferty, and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

The Gurgel Connection

Franklin has formed a solid bond with Gurgel, the kind of pairing that exists only between those who have shared sweat, bruises and blood on the mat in preparation for fights. Gurgel loves to train hard and found a willing student in Franklin, seeing someone he could teach that had zeal and the willingness to put in the time to nail techniques.

“When I got Rich he was at a blue belt level. I’d show him a technique he needed to work on and he’d drill it for an hour straight,” Gurgel says.

On the big-time stage of the UFC, Franklin kept the fight standing up before dispatching Evan Tanner, while being effective enough on the ground against Edwin DeWees despite clearly being affected by the pulled groin.

For Gurgel, when the world sees Franklin on the ground in an extended battle, anyone suspecting a chink in the armor is in for a nasty surprise.

“I would say he’s at the level of someone who just got their brown belt. His guard is very dangerous. He’s got a great sweep and triangles. I fight at 155 and am much lighter, but he’s still the guy giving me the most work and keeping up with me,” Gurgel says. “They are in for a big surprise if they think Rich can’t fight on the ground.”

Franklin figures he’s maybe a year and a couple fights away from a title shot. He bases it on the merits of logical elimination.

“I’ve already beaten Evan Tanner, who got a shot against Tito Ortiz. And they’re talking about Vitor Belfort against Couture, and Couture’s already beaten him. I think I’ll be ready by then,” he says.

The UFC originally offered Franklin a slot on the UFC 45 card in November, but he’s been bumped back to a slot on the January show. “I’m not sure if it’s a fight against another top guy,” he says, referring to Belfort, “or a keep-busy fight.”

Manager Monte Cox says Franklin will keep busy regardless of what the UFC does with him. “He can fight in the IFC, King of The Cage or wherever. He’s not contractually bound to the UFC,” says Cox, adding that Franklin’s rapid development only feeds the impetus to keep him fighting before he gets a title shot.

It’s a stacked division. Getting a title shot will be a rough road. So what else is new? “Monte has done a real good job [of ] bringing me along and he gives me great advice on the fights to take. At this level [in] my career I’m 29 years old, it’s time to hit it or get it,” Franklin says. “My goal is to be the best in the world.”

Every fighter says it. Some get the chance. Fewer make it a reality. It’s the standard fare for those who invest months and years hitting the bags and the mat—a climb up a mountain that brooks no weakness and holds no guarantees. At his current altitude, Franklin has shown no signs of running out of air or letting go of the rope—so don’t be fooled into thinking he’s another ordinary guy.